To lie about Alabama's immigration law and the Constitution. In another attack on Alabama's immigration law, a Politico "reporter" conspires with Tom Perez and Tony West of the Department of Justice to spread lies about the law.

Two top Justice Department officials traveled to Alabama on Monday to gather information on the impact of the state’s controversial immigration law and said they are concerned the toughest-in-the-nation crackdown has run afoul of federal rights.

“The more we hear, the more we are concerned about the impact of Alabama’s immigration law on a wide range of federal rights,” said Tom Perez, who heads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division as an assistant attorney general, at a press conference in Birmingham, Ala.

But first, what is with Politico's style book? Who abbreviates the States with three letters and a period? WTF? Why isn't Politico using the standard Post Office abbreviations?

But back to the lies:

As written, the laws’ provisions allow police officers to arrest anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant during routine traffic stops, make it a crime to transport an illegal immigrant and require schools to report on the immigration status of its students.

In fact, there is nothing in the law that allows Alabama law enforcement officers, which, Tim Mak, includes Troopers from the Department of Public Safety, Highway Patrol, sheriff's deputies, and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, not just "police officers" to arrest someone just for being illegal. Instead, it requires them to arrest anyone found driving without a license.

The law states that persons who are found to be driving without a driver's license are no longer permitted to be cited and released with a notice to appear before a magistrate, but are required to be taken into custody and brought before a magistrate. Previously those who found to be driving without a license were given what is commonly called a ticket and sent on their way. This was good for illegal aliens, who could give any name and address and not have to worry about appearing or paying the citation. Now illegals are out of luck in Sweet Home Alabama. And that is Politico's, Mak's, West's, and Perez' concern.

Law enforcement officers may also now make probable cause arrests of persons for being aliens unlawfully present. Now I am certain that Mak knows nothing about Alabama's law and he also knows nothing about criminal law. Law enforcement is not permitted to make any arrest based on mere "suspicion." Law enforcement officers must have either probable cause or a warrant to make an arrest. Nothing the Alabama H.R. 56 says anything different. But Mak and Politico have an agenda and that is a deliberate campaign of lies about the law designed to frighten Americans and present them with some sort of Cheka arresting people willyilly. Of course, what the radical left projects on its enemies is most often the truth about them. And not surprising coming from a most likely Chinese immigrant well acquainted with the Chinese Ministry of State Security.[VDARE.com note: Actually Mak is from Canada, where they have a different kind of Cheka. ]

Now establishing probable cause for driving without a license is quite easy to establish, being an alien unlawfully present a little harder. But since establishing probable cause in the driving w/0 offense, it has become the dagger aimed at the heart of illegal aliens in Alabama and that is why Politico and Mak are on the warpath against this minor change in Alabama law. And also the section of the law most clearly in the purview of a State. It does not touch on immigration directly, but does get an illegal alien in the Secure Communities net, as it is now a mandatory arrest offense, not a cite and release infraction. That is why Mak and Politico are lying about it.

Now to the Checkists at the DOJ. Perez has been a common theme here, but West is a less visible Checkist. But he is just as much a petty tyrant and a liar.

Tony West, who is leading the federal government’s legal case, said that the Alabama laws fail the same test as similar strict immigration regulations in Arizona, South Carolina and Utah.

“They fail to recognize the primacy of the federal government to regulate immigration, and they all attempt to replace Congressionally-enacted immigration laws and federal policies with state immigration laws,” said West.

West added that the patchwork approach to immigration policy only drew resources from the federal government’s priority of targeting dangerous and criminal illegal immigrants.

“A state by state approach, with each state adopting its own version of immigration regulation, a version that is inconsistent with other states and at odds with the federal government - that only makes our immigration problem worse,” he said. “It makes it harder for us to focus limited resources on federal immigration priorities, like criminal aliens who pose a threat to national security or public safety.”

The lie is that Alabama H.R. 56 is at odds with Federal law. Nothing in the Alabama statute, or the Arizona statute, are at odds with Federal law. Both support and work with Federal law, as opposed to the Obama Regime Administrative Amnesty, itself an open assault on the Constitution where the Regime is thwarting Acts of Congress. What the Regime objects to is the assistance the State of Alabama is giving to the discovery and arrest of illegal aliens, most of whom will come to DHS' attention because of Secure Communities. Once arrested and processed for driving without a license, the illegal aliens become a political liability for the Regime. What they fear is the illegal alien the Regime releases that end up serial killers, DUI killers, or terrorists. In fact it is not the States that are replacing "Congressionally-enacted immigration laws" but the Regime that is replacing said laws with a policy that usurps those laws. So, it is the same story, what the left accuses others of, is in fact what they are guilty of.